JHML vs VYM

JHMLAJohn Hancock Multifactor Large Cap ETF

VYMAVanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

In short

JHML Dimensional builds the index, John Hancock runs the fund. JHML holds roughly 800 of the largest US companies, then leans the weights toward smaller, cheaper, more profitable names and caps any single stock at 4%.

VYM The no-frills dividend workhorse. VYM buys the higher-yielding end of the US market, roughly 600 names, for four basis points: no quality screen, no dividend-growth-streak test, just yield, at scale since 2006.

Stated mandate

JHML The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the performance of the John Hancock Dimensional Large Cap Index.

VYM The Fund seeks to track a benchmark index measuring the investment return of common stocks from companies characterized by high dividend yields.

Why people hold it

• JHML The index is developed and maintained by Dimensional Fund Advisors: weights tilt toward smaller market caps, lower relative price and higher profitability, reconstituted twice a year.sec.govjhinvestments.com
• A 4% cap on any one company at reconstitution, spread across about 800 names, keeps the portfolio far less top-heavy than a straight cap-weighted large cap fund.sec.gov
• It has tracked its Dimensional index very closely, and stands among the stronger implementations in a crowded multifactor large cap field.
• Running since 2015, it has a decade of live history under the same rules-based index, not a backtest.

• VYM Four basis points a year, against a peer-group median near 0.32%. Cheaper than cohort neighbors VONV (0.06%) and FNDX (0.25%).
• Running since 2006 and now a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so ordinary orders tend to fill at tight spreads.
• Simple mandate: track the FTSE High Dividend Yield Index of US common stocks screened on yield. No manager discretion, no options overlay, plain 1940-Act fund.vanguard.com
• Pays quarterly, and among 100-plus value and multifactor rivals it stands as one of the strongest overall packages in the group.

Worth knowing

• JHML Fee is 0.29% net of a waiver through July 31, 2027 (0.32% gross), near the category median. Simpler factor peers like LRGF (0.08%) and VYM (0.04%) charge much less.
• Trading is thin for a multi-billion-dollar fund, so spreads can run wider than the household-name large cap ETFs. Limit orders are the usual tool here.
• Those size, value and profitability tilts mean the return path can diverge from a cap-weighted large cap index, in either direction, for long stretches.sec.gov

• VYM The screen is yield, not payout growth or dividend quality, so a company can qualify simply because its share price fell.
• This is a value slice by design, tilted to established payers, so it behaves differently from a total US market fund.
• Roughly 600 holdings, but weight leans toward the largest payers, so the top of the roster does more of the work than the count suggests.

Full JHML profile⁠

Full VYM profile⁠